Garden of the Gods
by raindropsonr-ses
Summary: Nectar and ambrosia are in short supply due to infertility of soil and illness of crops in the gods' agricultural center. The rate of demigod deaths has more than doubled, and the gods are irritable out of hunger and close to conflict. A trio of demigods must band together to prevent future famine in Olympus, and it might cost them more than their lives.


This was the most nerve-racking day of my life. I have seen Percy Jackson struggle to save Olympus, I have fought for my life against cruel, heartless monsters whose only purpose in life is to rip demigods apart, and I have personally been victimized by the kids in the Hermes cabin who thought it would be funny to replace my shampoo with Nair shortly before a trip to Olympus to speak with my mother, but nothing compared to this feeling. My heart was beating out of its chest, I was sweating like a pig, and my stomach felt like it was curling in on itself. The door in front of me slowly started to open. Two tall women were inside with fake smiles plastered on their almost too perfect faces. Behind them, one hundred more women began to bounce and clap. This was it.

The chanting started, and I forced the biggest smile I possibly could onto my face. If any fear showed on my face, I would be a goner.

No, this was not a battle with the Gorgons. This was sorority recruitment, informally referred to as rush week. Now that I was eighteen, I felt like I was too old to be living at a summer camp full of thirteen-year-old demigods that didn't even know the difference between an ombre and a balayage. That's why I decided to go to college, and what better way to stay connected to my heritage than through Greek Life? Of course, the majority of the girls rushing were human, but the "top" house had a solid ratio of fellow demigods. I would not be able to live with myself if I didn't get the bid, especially since my mother was a founder of Alpha Rho Delta.

I walked through the door to the sorority house, and it was really no different from any of the other houses that I had been to previously. I felt slightly more comfortable because I resembled a lot of the girls; we all had long, sleek hair, bright eyes, and dazzling smiles. As expected, there were shallow conversations, endless hair flips, and multiple conversations about how much we both _love_ Starbucks. Of course, each girl always asked about my parents since they were both members of collegiate Greek Life, but I skirt around the subject easily. How can I just casually mention to this girl that my mother is Aphrodite, goddess of love and beauty? It should be obvious, but the humans aren't aware that the greek gods still exist, so I'll give them a break this once.

Once that was all over, I pulled out my cell phone to call my boyfriend who had decided to stay at Camp Halfblood to be a counselor, when my best friend Tabi remarked, "I still can't believe you make the decision to have that on you. You know it's essentially a loudspeaker screaming, 'I'm a demigod; please eat me now!' to all of the monsters in the surrounding two miles." Classic child of Athena, always worried about nothing.

I rolled my eyes at her right as Brennan picked up with a casual "What's up?" I told him all about Alpha Rho Delta and how _terrible_ rush was, but he wasn't responding with his usual enthusiasm.

"What's wrong?" I asked him.

"Oh, nothing. Long day," he responded.

Once again I rolled my eyes. After three years, I knew him well enough to know that he was more than just tired. Even when he was, he would pretend to be interested in what I was saying. "Tell me right now or I swear to gods-," I threatened. Tabi interrupted my train of thought when she complained about how annoying couples were and how she was glad she didn't have to deal with a boyfriend.

Brennan pulled me back into the phone conversation. "I'm not really sure what is going on, but the weather here is gloomy like it was when Thalia's tree was dying. None of the younger kids know anything is wrong, but-"

"Carrington!" Tabi cried. I looked up at her, and she was a mess. Her light brown hair was flying out of her nicely done ponytail, her eyes were wild, and she seemed to be shaking. Her eyes were intently staring at something behind me. "Look out!"

I turned around just as a pincer flew toward my face. There was a scorpion the size of a semi-truck trying to eat me alive. Classic. This is what I got for going to school in Arizona, nearly 3,000 miles from Camp Halfblood. I dropped my phone and pulled a short knife out of the waistband of my pink skirt; the knife was small enough to hide under my clothes but big and sharp enough to do damage to this vile create that was trying to ruin my good hair day.

Tabi knocked the pincer away from my face with a sword much larger than mine. I'm not really sure how the Mist could hide something like that as a purse, but I'd rather not question it since human ignorance of the weapon has saved my life at least a dozen times. I rolled away from the beast, trying to remember where the chink in a scorpion's exoskeleton was. I realized that the scorpion practically ignoring me at this point. Its tail was prepping to spring toward, right toward Tabi's heart.

I might not be as smart as the children of Athena are, but my impulsivity had saved almost as many lives. I threw my entire body at the scorpion's tail, and my weight kept it from hitting its target. The beast's rage gave it more strength, and it began to thrash my body back and forth. First, the scorpion flung its tail right into the concrete sidewalk in an attempt to get me to let go. Conveniently, the only part of my body that actually had any contact with the ground was my head. I clung on for life at this point. The tail's second target was a large electricity pole. I was inches away from being crushed when Tabi completely detached the tail from the rest of the body with one smooth stoke. I fell to the ground concussed and nearly lifeless.

Through the slits of my eyes, I saw Tabi running for her life. The scorpion had pinched her leg and she was bleeding severely. She turned toward the scorpion and in a last ditch effort threw her sword at the thing's eyes. It pierced into the scorpion's body, and all but the hilt disappeared. She made it. I was unconscious before the monster even disappeared into yellow dust.

...

 _I realize this is a short chapter, but I have plans to make future chapters longer and more exciting! This was mostly for characterization and stuff. More action to come in the next chapter or so. And I know it doesn't seem like the description is relevant right now but give it time._


End file.
